Hammond Hospital - U. S. Civil War - Point Lookout, MD - Field Hospitals on Waymarking.com

Point Lookout is a peninsula between the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay in southern Maryland and was a popular resort area in the early 19th century. In 1862, after the start of the Civil War, the U. S. government leased the land to build a military hospital for war casualties. The hospital was constructed on pilings and had 16 buildings arranged like the spokes of a wheel with four small buildings in the center. (See a print of the hospital here.) It was completed in the spring of 1863. Hammond Hospital could handle 1400 patients. Union casualties were transported by water on steamers.

After the Battle of Gettyburg in 1863, the federal government set up a POW camp on the same peninsula. Hammond started taking in injured and sick Confederate prisoners in addition to Federal soldiers, and the hospital soon became overcrowded.

After the Civil War ended, the government closed Hammond Hospital in 1865. The buildings were demolished or sold. Today, a monument marks the general location of Hammond Hospital. It is in the middle of the traffic circle at the end of Point Lookout State Park near the lighthouse. To the east of the monument across the road, there is a historical sign with the history of Hammond Hospital and a single piling, the only evidence a huge war hospital once existed here.

The park is open daily. See Point Lookout State Park - General Site Info for info on fees.

References:

• Tobacco to Tomcats...St. Mary’s County since the Revolution, pg. 31

Address: Point Lookout State Park 1175 Point Lookout Road Scotland, MD 20687 Name of War: Civil War Type of Documentation: Historic Marker/Interpretive

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Date Logged Log   10/16/2022 Don.Morfe visited it 09/19/2015 Searcher28 visited it

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